Bob Geren removed Mark Ellis in the seventh inning yesterday so he could get a standing ovation from the Oakland crowd in the A’s final home game of the year, which suggests the manager doesn’t expect him back in 2011.
Oakland has a $6 million option or $500,000 buyout on Ellis, who’s 33 years old and hitting his usual .281/.352/.363 in 117 games this season. That might be slightly more than he’s worth on the open market, but as a good defender with solid on-base skills Ellis would seemingly be an ideal one-year stopgap for teams hoping to contend in 2011.
However, it sounds like Ellis would like to be back in Oakland for a 10th season even if the A’s choose the $500,000 buyout, with Joe Stiglich of the San Jose Mercury Newsreporting that “he expects to have discussions with management next week.”

The shocking part is that a .715 OPS with .352 as OBP is actually tolerable, or better, offense, especially with a gold-glove caliber 2B. Add the intangibles (team leader, good with the younger middle-infielders) and bringing him back under $ 3M makes sense.
Of course, Fisher/Wolff are less concerned with winning than pocket lining, and the alternative is a no-name at $ 410k. So Geren was right to give Ellis the send-off (decent crowd, 21,000 yesterday.) Why take chances?